Aaron Collins's Suspects Chapter 10
by Psychoflop
Summary: The final flashback chapter...taking place in my hometown


Chapter 10: The clusterfuck convoy - Brampton, Ontario

"You got an A in Social Science? That is so amazing sweetheart! Ok Lilly, be in bed by 11. Take care, I love you. Bye" James ford hung up just as he was getting off the Go Train in downtown Brampton. Now came his mission to take the 502 Zum bus along Main Street to Shopper's World and then the 511 along Steeles to the Bramalea Go Station…or so he thought. "Mr. Ford?"

James turned a full 180 degrees to see a pale, casually dressed man leaning on a taxi. "Sorry sir, I am heading for a Bus. Not enough money for a cab."

"It has already been taken care of. The Cab is mine and I am friends with Aaron. My name is Rob Wilkinson."

"Oh yes. The guy that used to run Digital Underground. Sorry that had to fold, wait; you are a taxi driver as well?"

"At one point I was doing both at the same time. Now I am just finishing my apprenticeship as an electrician. We better get going; there are others in the car. You were the last I was waiting on."

James got into what used to be one of those airport shuttles designed to seat a dozen with luggage. He took a seat in the middle row and looked around not recognizing anyone. "Hi my name is James, who might all of you be?"

"I am Charles. Which I find funny that we are strangers considering we are supposed to be Cmk."

"I am Gregg. You might remember me as the HMV guy in the Bramalea City Centre."

"I am Isaac. Eternally stoic and eternally Aaron's sidekick."

"Nice to meet all of you. I agree Charles; I do recognize you Gregg and I heard of Isaac and your Yavimaya fire shenanigans deck."

Rob groaned, "You are all magic players?"

Gregg shook his head, the rest nodded.

Rob groaned a second time, "I should have made Aaron let me turn my meter on."

They all share a laugh as they drive by Gage Park; Rob pushes a button on his Iphone car dock that James recognizes as, "Call Ida." Everyone hears a dial tone and then, "Ida's party line, Ida speaking."

"HI" shouts everyone in the car simultaneously.

"5 men shouting at once. Ah, Rob got everyone in the cab."

Rob hushed everyone, "Yes Ida, I did we are Main street heading south to Steeles avenue. Our estimated time of Arrival is 7-10 minutes."

"Ok good, do you know where we are all meeting up?"

"Bramalea Go Station in front of the terminal where we can buy tickets."

"Perfect. See you guys in a few."

"Ok, take care Ida."

"Bye."

"BYE." shouted again by everyone.

"Ok Austin, this is your first babysitting job so if you run into any problems with Elizabeth call us, ok? Take care, I love you, bye." Justin Welsh hung just as he was getting off the Brampton Transit #16. Now came his wife Krystal's mission of taking out a red file folder to get a good luck at other guests of Aaron's birthday party. She had 3 photos along with brief bios. One was an in-shape gentleman with black hair who went by the name of Adam Debideen. The other two were Female athletes from Aaron's high school. 1 was named Susan Rhodes, the other named Melinda Hughes. She looked around and saw all 3 exiting from the ticket purchase building.

"There they are Justin."

"Nice. Should we go introduce ourselves first or buy tickets first?"

"I will go introduce myself, you go buy tickets."

"Ok. I will be back in a minute. I love you."

"I love you too."

They were about to Part Company until Adam spoke, "Guys, if you are Justin and Krystal I already have your tickets. As well as Aaron's, His mom's, Ida's, Rob's, James', Isaac's, Charlie's and Gregg's. They were all purchased in advance."

Justin turned around and joined his wife, Handshakes and the basic pleasantries were exchanged before the inevitable was asked, "How do you guys know Aaron?"

Adam, "High School."

Melinda, "High School."

Susan, "High School."

Krystal, "Coven"

Justin, "Mutual friend while he worked at Tim Horton's."

A moment of awkward silence passed before Susan snapped her fingers, "One of us has to call Ida to let her know we are here."

Justin nods, "I am on it." pulling out a cell phone and dialling.

"Hey, this is Ida. Aaron, his mom and I are in Lindsay's car heading for the Bramalea Go station so make this quick please."

"This is Justin. Krystal, Adam, Susan, Melinda and I are all here."

"Ok. Has a taxi arrived with Rob, James, Isaac, Charles and Gregg in it yet?"

"Not yet."

"Ok, please keep an eye out for them. Sorry, I forgot to give pictures of them to Krystal,"

"I am sure that between the 5 of us already here that we will recognize most of them from our own pasts."

"Ok, we are at the corner of Bramalea road and Steeles avenue so we will see you in 2 minutes."

"Ok, see you soon."

"Bye."

"Bye."

"Ok between Krystal and I, we only know James. Do any of you personally know anyone in the taxi?"

"Other than Isaac, no."

"Well I hope they travel from the taxi to the Go train platform as 1 group."

Aaron, Lindsay and Ida finally found a pull-through parking space (after 10 minutes of looking) and parked their car there.

"Aaron, will there be any problems leaving my car here for 2 weeks."

"No, I already made arrangements with the city of Brampton so that no one will touch the car."

"Right. Sorry, I forgot."

The three of them got out of the car and headed for the Bramalea Go station on foot. Ida went through her list of calls, "Babe, I am going to need a quiet place on the train by myself as I still have a lot of calls to make and receive."

"Ok sweetie, you can always meet everyone at dinner tonight."

"Thank you for understanding."

"No problem Ida."

They kissed as her phone started ringing so she actually rushed ahead of Aaron and Lindsay to take it as privately as she could. "I hope the cell signal lasts as she goes through the tunnel to the train platform." remarked Lindsay.

"It should, my company designed that phone for exactly that purpose."

Lindsay and Aaron went down a flight of stairs, entering the tunnel themselves, it was only about 250 metres long, and 25% of it was the staircases each way. It was boring, even by tunnel standards (what with only white paint covering the walls), but as Aaron and Lindsay exited the tunnel Lindsay breathed a sigh of relief, "That is the first time that I have been through that tunnel where it did not smell like urine and rodent feces."

"Oh mom, that is disgusting."

Aaron was soon mobbed by Adam, Justin, Krystal, Melinda and Susan in a symphony of hugs. Most of them remembered his mother having a bigger hatred of strangers touching them, so they just waved hello instead.

"Where's Ida."

Aaron points to his right, "Over there. She wanted privacy for her calls to and from everyone for the big event."

"Man parking for a large van is not easy in that lot." came a man's voice behind him.

"So that is what took you so long?" asked Aaron as he turned around and hugged Rob

"I know a few of you know each other but Adam, Justin, Krystal, Melinda and Susan this is Charles, Gregg, Isaac, James and Rob."

"Yes, everyone ignore Aaron's mom." interjected Lindsay.

"But everyone already knows you."

Everyone laughed as they exchanged hellos. The train slowly pulled up from the West. Ida quickly ran upstairs.

"I am not going up to the upper deck Aaron, I hate heights."

The entourage was divided.

"I concur with my mom guys. Besides, Ida said she needed space to take care of things for tonight."

They reluctantly nodded as they showed what appeared to be the conductor their train tickets. They took up almost 2 entire rows of seats to themselves. Aaron then grabbed a set of keys from his shirt pocket and unlocked a case he was carrying.

"These are the prototypes that my company is working on. They are video citizen band radios. Without using wi-fi or any Internet signal, you can communicate to someone in real time with video streaming capabilities."

Everyone gasped, except Rob. "How can all of that work without internet?"

"It's actually pretty simple, all Citizens band radios run around the 27 megahertz band."

Rob nodded, "Give or take 1 Megahertz, yes. Go on."

"The original signal goes through a filter, then to a video signal booster, then through a 2.0 mp microcam"

Rob tilted his head sideways, "What if the other end does not have video capability."

"The signal stops going through the filter after 2 seconds and it becomes a normal citizens band radio communication, audio only"

"Well at least you have covered the transition phase that this invention would carry on."

"That was the goal, truckers driving drunk are going to hate me for this. I better go to the upper deck to check on Ida. Talk amongst yourselves."

Aaron took a bow and left with the case, now locked again. Adam took a look around the other guests and waited for Aaron to be out of sight.

"Man I hate Aaron. Constantly challenging my sexuality back in high school. A lot of people he and I know have held a grudge for almost 2 decades."

Isaac was the first to respond, "I agree. I am the most stoic out of all of Aaron's friends. But he has made some 'offensive' offers to me 'in the name of our friendship'"

Melinda sighed, "I have to concur with Adam and Isaac"

Susan looked around in shock, "Oh what the hell, make that 4."

The others gave them…strange glances. It was James Ford who spoke first: "My only issue with him is his advocating a tighter banned/restricted list in Magic: The Gathering tournaments. Some of us who play the game do not want any banned/restricted list at all."

Isaac shook his head, "Do you even realize how the game would be broken if you got your way."

James, not expecting such opposition, remained silent. Justin on the other hand…

"Aaron was the primary reason my coven was destroyed, I have resented him since."

"So have I." chimed in Krystal.

Charles stared at them, "Speaking as the 1 non-coven element of the Cmk, I hate him because back in 2012 and 2013, he and Ida sat down and wrote a detective novel and he did not even let me get any girls, which was my only request for my character. So this time, I am getting a girl for real."

Gregg, Lindsay and Rob felt out of place, they knew who a few of these people were from Aaron's past birthdays but they were Not School or Cmk. Gregg was Music/Film and Rob was Miscellaneous. Rob had enough of the awkward silence, "I wish he would give me the money to start up Digital Underground again. I miss being my own boss."

Lindsay nodded in agreement with Rob, "There are many reasons I prefer my daughter over my son. Even with his new wife and not-so new money. He needs to take care of me better."

The entire train (including those not involved with the conversation) began booing her relentlessly. Gregg cleared his throat, "Aaron and I are friends partly because of the straightedge lifestyle. Now he has influence on so many things…I wish he would use it to get people to put down the cigarette, or the bottle of booze, or the joint, or the pills, or whatever drugs people think they need to escape reality. You know something? There are enough of us on the train, what do you say to an intervention with Aaron? We can lure into 1 of the Hotel's conference rooms, ask him to sit down and convince him to clean up his act." Isaac scratched his chin and asked, "What if that does not work? Aaron is quite stubborn."

Aaron sat down next to Ida, just as she was hanging up: "How many calls do you have left?"

"That was the last one babe."

"Great. We are the next stop. From Union we P.A.T.H. it like we have been telling the others."

"Ok. Did you show them your new radios?"

"Yes. They seemed to love them. It will be a revolution."

"Do you think we will be able to test them at your party? Or any time in the next 2 weeks for that matter?"

"Only if something happens to me, like if I get killed or something."

"Babe, I hate it when you talk like that."

"Oh come on Ida, I am well aware that I am not an easily likeable person. Even amongst my friends and family. That is why I only showed them 1 invention, not 2."

"Do you have the other 1 with you?"

"No need. After all, it IS only software."

"True. But does it work."

"Recent beta tests have shown me it does. Think about it. Every citizen on the planet can completely remove all traces of their existence from the Internet. Not even governments or even Facebook can invade your privacy."

Ida nodded, smiled and then began to cuddle with her husband. They began to doze off until the Go train screeched to a halt at Union Station. They grabbed their belongings and went downstairs to join up with the others. "Follow me guys." They took a staircase down only labelled 3, then down a few flights inside the train terminal at Union station. After looking around for a minute Aaron spotted the exit from the train terminal to the main terminal. There was an outside gap of about 100 square metres (heavily occupied by hot dog vendors and homeless people); to the right was the P.A.T.H. entrance. From there it was straight ahead for just about 1 kilometre (half a mile to the imperial system) then a left turn to another P.A.T.H. tunnel, this one with a few shops. Most of the group were paying attention to Susan telling a story about how she was at Game 5 of the 2013 World Series where R.A. Dickey threw a perfect game to win the trophy for the blue jays. But they all kept following Aaron and Ida, oblivious to when Ida randomly went, "Oh look a pharmacy. I have to stop in there later."

Aaron looked worried, "Anything I can help you with."

"No babe, it is for girl stuff. I will go with Holly or someone later on when your dinner party dies down."

"Ok sweetie." And he kissed her, not knowing what exactly Ida needed…


End file.
